In the Addendum, the Department states that the women must provide 'evidence' that they actually worked in the Magdalene Laundries, yet it fails to define what it means by 'evidence'. Going by the DOJ's previous practice, one must assume that they mean records.

In the Ombudsman's Nov 2017 report on the DOJ's previous 'maladministration' of the scheme, he found: 'There was an over reliance on the records of the congregations and it is not apparent what weight if any was afforded to the testimony of the women and/or their relatives.

This week's Addendum (which is supposed to fix the problems the Ombudsman identified) says the women's applications must include 'Records from that institution and/or from the relevant Magdalen institution stating that you worked in the laundry and the period of time involved.'

Unbelievably, the Addendum adds: 'The calculation will be made on the basis that no child under 12 years of age worked in a Magdalen laundry, unless an applicant provides evidence of such work before she reached the age of 12 years.'

Now, I have never seen a single record of a return to the government pursuant to the factories legislation and regulations (stating children's ages and hours worked, etc) in the info the nuns have provided in response to personal data access requests by survivors.

This suggests that they did not keep - or do not still have - the records they were legally required to create under the Conditions of Employment (Records) Regulations 1947, sections 122 and 124 Factories Act 1955, and Factories (General Register) Regulations 1956.

It's not like we can find out from the government whether any such records were kept, because the Department of the Taoiseach refuses to release any of the contents of the McAleese archive from its possession -- the archive of all state records concerning the Magdalene Laundries

The Taoiseach's Dept recently refused an FOI request for the Index (yes...the Index) to the McAleese archive stating 'The records...are stored in this Department for the purposes of safe keeping...and are not held or within the control of the Dept for the purposes of the FOI Act'

Regarding the Department's statement in the addendum that it's presumed girls did not work in Magdalene Laundries under the age of 12: @maglaundries know numerous women who did, and the McAleese report acknowledges that girls as young as 9 were in Magdalene Laundries.

The Department's presumption that girls under 12 did not work in Magdalene Laundries must be based on 'evidence' coming from the nuns. It is imperative that that evidence be made publicly known, and at the very least put before the survivors for their comment.

Is the Department accepting the nuns' testimony as 'evidence'? In the Ombudsman's report he noted that DOJ 'Correspondence to the women is filled with phrases such as "the Sisters have confirmed...the Sisters have verified..."'

It is time for Magdalene survivors' testimony to be accepted as 'evidence', for once and for all. @CharlieFlanagan needs to confirm that this will be the case. It is a tragedy that women have been dragged through 5 1/2 years of further suffering since @EndaKen

Replies to This Discussion

I remember some young girls from Goldenbridge were sent on into the Magdalene laundry's , I was standing next to my friend in the Rec when Sister Sadista called us over she told my friend she was going to the Convent in Wexford to work in the laundry we were young I think we were around 14 years old that statement terrified us we all knew the Laundry's were a Death sentence from hard Slavery that not only is designed to cause as much damage to your health but also to your Mind I still cry for the loss of my friend after they marched her away into the Black Car she was held between two Brides of the Devil ,we didn't have a clue where babied came from so my friend and I am sure many like her were just innocent children but ripe for Slavery , Lets face the truth the Roman Catholic Church was the State they caused terrible damage to the whole Irish nation especially Ireland's Children they locked up and enslaved children in Industrial schools, Magdalene laundry's, so called orphanages, they Sold Irish babies by the thousands to rich Foreigners all Ireland's Citizens were just Money to the Nazi Romans ,how has things improved for Irish people ? thousands are been made Homeless every week by Greedy politicians ,and Lawyers and foreign landlords , Everything is very expensive ,Wages are Low, The Survivors of Hell Holes were supposed to be properly compensated which they were not ,the Lawyers and Government kept most of the Compensation Funding supposed to compensate the Survivors by setting themselves and their friends even their family members to sit on Boards with huge payouts.with warning and threats made to the survivors to shut up sign this sign that ,when most records from the Dept of Education had all the pages blacked out so their was no point in as you couldn't read them anyway it was all a total Ripoff, and to cause further damage and upset to the most Vulnerable who only wanted decent Justice, the Roman Vatican is worth Billions,Trillions so why are they asking the Irish Nation to pay for their Popes visit ?? WHY , Why do we Irish still Put up with Bullies out to destroy Ireland. WHY. The same greedy types are Voted in all the time.

we might even have been 13, as we had no birthdays which makes things difficult but I do remember looking up at Sister Sadista we had been caught looking in the nun's dust bin for food, I ended up in Hospital after a beating, I do remember my Surgeons Name very well, The Nun's lied about that also and about how long I was in Hospital, They all Lie,

Those Nuns and so called christian brothers were so Evil minded toward children I hope they all have been buried upside down in their Coffin's in case they try to climb out, same goes for all those who have sat on Corrupt Boards taking large payouts that was to go to the survivors ,' You are all Cursed you get back what you give out,

Its bloody amazing that nuns are held to be honest . and that women who worked in the laundrys are not. What is this based on. The Church still get away with using women as slaves with the help of the elite who were no better in the past and thay havent noticed that times have changed.